Vietnam Days

We got to Vietnam on November 14.  We stayed in Ho Chi Minh City the whole time.  It is a really big city.  We've been here before.  It has gotten a lot bigger since last time.  It was hot and humid like back in Miami.  There were people on mopeds and motorcycles everywhere!

We met up with some friends of ours who sailed on Semester at Sea before.  Gary and Rebecca Oliphant.  They were really nice to us and we gave them lots of hugs.

We went up to the top of the tallest building. It was very high up and we could see the whole city.  We also tried a new flavor of ice cream up there - Young Rice Ice Cream.  It was very yummy.  Later on we tried some other new food called Pho.  It was like soup with noodles and meatballs and something called sprouts.  It was really good- especially the noodles.  We used chopsticks for the first time, too.

We went to a tailor and each of us got a suit made.  It was very inexpensive but a very nice suit.  Julian got a foot massage when Mama got a pedicure.  It looked ticklish.  That night we went to Water Puppet Theater.  It was super fun.  We got to see the people who made the puppets move at the end of the play.

On the day before we left, we got to make a video call to our classes back in Miami at the Cushman School.  It was fun to see and speak to everyone.  I got a little home sick and really miss my friends back home.  We get to go home in 2 weeks and say hi to everyone.  But Papa will stay on the ship all the way to San Diego.

Check out this VIDEO  Papa made of our time in Vietnam. 

China is next.  I am really excited about seeing the Great Wall.

Talk to you soon!

Minglabar from Myanmar

We spent a couple of days in Yangon, Myanmar. We went on a bus a visited a market in town. We bought "longyis".(The traditional  outfit of Myanmar).  It is like a long skirt. It is what most men wear here.  We visited the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is like a large temple. The pagoda is covered in gold. It is really cool.  

Most people in Myanmar believe in Buddha. One of the days we went on a train with a guide.  The train went all around the city in a big circle. We got to see what it was like to live in Yangon.   We went to a big market where they sell lots of fruits, vegetables and fish. There were lots of people and in some places it smelled really fishy. 

We also visited the zoo. We got to see see lots of animals. We saw 3 white tigers and some hippos. We got to feed some elephants.There are wild elephants living in Myanmar, but they are endangered. They say there are only 2 thousand wild elephants left. There are some people that are  trying to help them. 

Papa made a video of our time in Myanmar- you can see it by clicking HERE

Our next stop is Vietnam. We will talk to you soon. 

India and The Maldives

We docked in a place in India called Kochi. When we got off the ship we went to a ferry to take us to the city center.  We rode around in crazy cars called TukTuks.  I bought a book about Gandhi so I could do a report for school.  We walked around the city a little.  It was really busy and fun.

The next day we went to the Maldives.  Papa needed a vacation and we wanted to be in a country we had not visited before.  We took a little plane and then a sea plane.  The island was paradise.  We got to play in the water and it was warm.  There was a couple of baby sharks that lived right outside our hotel room.  They were black-tip sharks- Papa said they weren't dangerous. 

We also danced a lot when they had a band playing music.  The singer said I was the best dancer on the island.  Papa went scuba diving one day and said it was amazing.  We went snorkeling and looking for Whale Sharks.  We swam with one but we couldn't see it - it was really deep.  The guide took a picture of it, though.  We will try to swim with Whale Sharks again some day. 
We did get to see lots of cool fish.  And on the last day we went on jet skis and saw a lot of dolphins.  They were swimming all around us- I got to go in the water with them- it was very cool.  We head to Myanmar next.  It used to be called Burma.  Talk to you soon!